Very recognizable, but OP is talking about 1 specific state or 1 city even. When you start to travel you will be marveled much more!
I found the people to be very nice and helpful everywhere. The most obese people I saw were in Texas, with one woman in St. John's Lake I just couldn't keep my eyes off of, but people seemed to ignore it, almost surreal. Portions of food are always huge, here in the Netherlands I'll order a sandwich if I'm hungry, two if I'm really really hungry. In the US I often tried to eat the whole serving but it usualy left me feeling like I was about to explode. It takes some getting used to to decide to stop eating something when you are used to eating everything. The nice thing is, it's highly acceptable to take food home. When I just arrived I felt like everything, all the food, all the beverages were sweeter, but you get used to that quickly. As for the friendlyness to pedestrians, that is also a local things, I have had some very weird experiences walking around Galveston Tx. people think you are a criminal for walking. I was even shouted at for walking into a drive-in Wendy's, but the restaurant itself was closed! So it seems like you need a car for food at later hours. And yeah, things are big, and there are drive-through ATMs! And sometimes you can only get to the other side of a road with a car, so something can be like 100 meters away and you can't figure out how to get there. Oh and turn on the TV, I found like 3 out of 50 channels to have preachers saying things like "Yeah, I know you're poor but Jesus will reward you if you give money anyway" ...Now I really understand that song by Genesis.
But I really like going there, I never felt threatened (except when walking into the Wendy's drive in), people didn't try to screw me over (try taking a cab as a tourist in a big city in Asia) and they know what service is (arguably because tipping is expected, which also takes getting used as is being presented prices without taxes, why?!).
Oh boy, I love taking my big ass F-150 Lariat down to the drive-through ATM, through a Starbucks to grab some coffee for the hour long trip just to get some lunch in Tacoma because my mother in law is driving down to Portland to visit her sister and she figured she'd make a stop there because I live close by, I might even pick up my meds at the pharmacy drive-through on the way back and while I'm there I might as well stroll into the Target right across the 2 mile long parking lot to grab some last minute groceries for dinner!
I did exactly this, as a Dutch person living in the US, not realising how ridiculous this is compared to my home country.
Haha, I drove around Texas in some small Kia (I just got the cheapest rental), I was constantly afraid someone would not see me (as many cars were much higher) and drive over me and my tiny car (thinking, "the road is really getting worse by the day!" ;) ).
I found the people to be very nice and helpful everywhere. The most obese people I saw were in Texas, with one woman in St. John's Lake I just couldn't keep my eyes off of, but people seemed to ignore it, almost surreal. Portions of food are always huge, here in the Netherlands I'll order a sandwich if I'm hungry, two if I'm really really hungry. In the US I often tried to eat the whole serving but it usualy left me feeling like I was about to explode. It takes some getting used to to decide to stop eating something when you are used to eating everything. The nice thing is, it's highly acceptable to take food home. When I just arrived I felt like everything, all the food, all the beverages were sweeter, but you get used to that quickly. As for the friendlyness to pedestrians, that is also a local things, I have had some very weird experiences walking around Galveston Tx. people think you are a criminal for walking. I was even shouted at for walking into a drive-in Wendy's, but the restaurant itself was closed! So it seems like you need a car for food at later hours. And yeah, things are big, and there are drive-through ATMs! And sometimes you can only get to the other side of a road with a car, so something can be like 100 meters away and you can't figure out how to get there. Oh and turn on the TV, I found like 3 out of 50 channels to have preachers saying things like "Yeah, I know you're poor but Jesus will reward you if you give money anyway" ...Now I really understand that song by Genesis.
But I really like going there, I never felt threatened (except when walking into the Wendy's drive in), people didn't try to screw me over (try taking a cab as a tourist in a big city in Asia) and they know what service is (arguably because tipping is expected, which also takes getting used as is being presented prices without taxes, why?!).